VLADIVOSTOK, Russia. Jan 28 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed the Defense Ministry to try to restore the cruiser Aurora "to the status it had in the Soviet period," Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.
"We are trying to see now how to enable [Aurora] to sail, and not just stay moored. Specialists are working there, they're calculating, they're trying to see what needs to be done. Because if it is to be restored, it should be made what it was originally, with the steam boilers and everything," Shoigu told Russia's Rossiya 1 television,
He said finding the crew for the ship and restoring pre-Bolshevik revolution uniforms would not be too difficult.
"It is my form conviction that the armed forces, just as the country in general, must have their symbols - unquestionable, sacred symbols that we must use as paragons, that we must value, that we must learn from if you like," he said.